Ibn Jarīr said (1): “The consensus of the early generations is that they were three hundred and a little over ten men.”

Al-Bukhārī likewise stated (2): “Maḥmūd narrated to us; Wahb narrated to us; from Shuʿbah, from Abū Isḥāq, from al-Barāʾ, who said: ‘I and Ibn ʿUmar were considered too young on the Day of Badr. On that day the Emigrants numbered a little over sixty, while the Helpers were two hundred and forty-odd.’ Such is what this report contains.”

Ibn Jarīr further said (3): “Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to us; Abū Mālik al-Janabī related to us; from al-Ḥajjāj—meaning Ibn Arṭāʾah—from al-Ḥakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ‘The Emigrants on the Day of Badr were seventy men, and the Helpers two hundred and thirty-six. The Prophet’s ﷺ standard was borne by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and the standard of the Helpers by Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.’ This yields a total of three hundred and six men.

Ibn Jarīr also said (4): “It is likewise reported that they were three hundred and seven men.”

I say: It is possible that this latter count includes the Prophet ﷺ himself, whereas the former does not; and God knows best.

Earlier (5) Ibn Isḥāq reported that the Emigrants were eighty-three, the Aws sixty-one, and the Khazraj one hundred and seventy—after which he listed them. This contradicts the figures recorded by al-Bukhārī and those transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās; and God knows best.

In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (6), Anas was asked, “Did you witness Badr?” He replied, “Where else would I have been?”

In Sunan Abī Dāwūd, through Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, from Abū Muʿāwiyah, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān Ṭalḥah ibn Nāfiʿ, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥarām, he said: “I was drawing water for my companions on the Day of Badr.” These two names are not mentioned by al-Bukhārī or by al-Ḍiyāʾ, and God knows best.

I add: Among those whom Ibn Isḥāq counted as men of Badr—granting them a share of the spoils even though (7) they were absent, having been excused with the Prophet’s approval—were eight or nine individuals. They include: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, who stayed behind to tend Ruqayyah, the daughter of the Messenger of God ﷺ, until she died; his portion and reward were nevertheless allotted to him; and Saʿīd ibn